[69RamFan]

Watched some of the last games of the season again.. Howard is a very decent player. Does *not* have the instincts or fluidity that Littleton has, but that's the way it goes, sometimes. I can only imagine that Kiser is going to be a massive improvement over Reeder. Reeder's a nice athlete, but made such little impact. Long was still thinking a lot, I believe. He has the physical stuff needed to be a starter, eventually.. he just needs to build up his knowledge. Williams is a starter level corner, for sure. A good one at that. Fowler made a lot of plays in the run game... I hope that the group replacing him can be close to that... but, maybe, with Robinson, Floyd and Kiser.. he won't be missed too much.
That secondary.. with Burgess added... man... it could be a lot of fun.

We can't forget about Kenny Young,,, there was a reason why we traded for him...
His stats for the Ravens, he had six starts with 2.5 sacks 7 TFL and 9 QBhits… with 468 snap counts since 2018 & 19 with the Ravens....

I reviewed some of his tape with the Ravens... he looks solid...

I would be expecting him to start with possibly Kiser as the other ILB....

[R4L]

We can't forget about Kenny Young,,, there was a reason why we traded for him...
His stats for the Ravens, he had six starts with 2.5 sacks 7 TFL and 9 QBhits… with 468 snap counts since 2018 & 19 with the Ravens....

I reviewed some of his tape with the Ravens... he looks solid...

I would be expecting him to start with possibly Kiser as the other ILB....

Thanks. I remember you saying something similar when they traded for him.

[aeneas1]

[69RamFan]

They've said it's an open competition. I like what Young profiles as, but the fact he didn't play a single down on D last year worries me a little.

I think that has more to do with coming in at the middle of the season,

being behind Littleton and Howard and not up to date knowing the playbook...

While Howard was in this system for two years...

Yes I can see a competition, and I would give Young a slight edge with a new DC on board...

[ramsman34]

I don’t know if any of them have an edge, not even Kiser. I think it is an all out competition. The best 2 will earn their starting roles and the rest will fall in line after.

[69RamFan]

So did Austin Corbett and Jalen Ramsey.

Reeder continued to get plenty of playing time and even Hager got snaps.
I can't write it off to "he didn't know the playbook."
That doesn't mean he can't play, I'm just saying that the fact he couldn't get on the field concerns me.

Corbett came in cause of injuries to the OL,,,
Not much of a choice with the injuries..

RAMsey doesn't need a playbook,,,
His playbook,, you go get the best WR and stick on him...

As for Reeder and Hager, both were the Mike ILB... Littleton, Howard and Young were the WLB.... He started as the third WLB in the depth chart after being acquired...

But who knows why Wade didn't play him.... I don't think it had anything to do with Howard being way better than Young...…

I reviewed Youngs tape when he was playing for the Ravens...

I thought the RAMs got a great deal in picking him up...
He can tackle, blitz, and cover those TEs/RBs going out on routes...

As far as Howard,,, when I first saw him in camp,,, to be honest, I didn't like what I saw... its seemed like he was afraid to make tackles,,,
Maybe Howard was trying to hide an injury in his first year...
Then he went into the PS... so my evaluations was correct....

The following season I saw improvement, but not by extreme... IMO

This is why I think Young will have a slight edge on Howard to be the starter...

[69RamFan]

Young played as a rookie then got beat out.
Howard is already better in coverage than Young, for sure.
PFF has its limitations, but Howard beats Young there, overall.
Not being able to beat out Reeder is pretty damning.

I really don't follow the Ravens as much, and don't know if Young got beat out as a rookie,,, but what I do know,,, he started near the end of his rookie season and started in the beginning of 2019 season... and during those time frame, they were subbing him in and out with other LBers… but still gain a high amount of snap counts...

To top that off,,, the Ravens have an excellent defense, and to be a starter on that defense speaks volumes...

Now to mention Reeder, as I stated, he played the Mike, while Young is a WLB,
you can't be saying that Young couldn't beat out Reeder,,, cause then we can always say, why didn't Howard play over Reeder? Do you understand my point,,,

But when all is said and done, I do see a competition,,, as I've mention that in my past postings...

[69RamFan]

Reeder played ahead of Howard because they wanted to keep Littleton in the off ball position. Howard's competition for snaps was Littleton, not Reeder. Kiser will be starting where Reeder was, most likely.

And.. it just brings home the point even more.. if Young's a WLB, he should've been able to beat out Howard for some snaps.

I'll keep getting back to it. Young didn't play a single snap and was in his second NFL season.

I have said before that I do think there will be a lot of subbing. I could see Young or someone else in on 1st down and Howard in on 2nd and 3rd.

You're making my point,,,
Reeder was the Mike and Howard was a WLB, the same goes for Young, a WLB...
when Young came on board, he was automatically put 3rd in the depth chart under the WLB position, cause he had to learn the playbook...

For him not getting any playing time, I couldn't tell you why.... maybe Wade felt safe with his starting roster and backups by the time Young came on board...

But any how,,, yes there will be competition between Howard and Young to see who start,,, and yes we could see packages deals between them...

[ramsman34]

So, how many ILBs do you think we keep? I think 4 max; Howard, Young, Kiser, and making the cut, Johnston.

[AltiTude Ram]

I think they keep 5 with the extra roster spots. Reeder with 1 year of
game/experience should compete at least on special teams.